Adults' literacy: which participation without information? A field experience in Peru between local contradictions and implicit political strategies

Is it possible to talk about participation of illiterate adults in the elaboration, implementation and evaluation of literacy programs when the working context can not steadily supply appropriate, pertinent and significant information? The author will try to answer the question, showing some consequences that spring from lack of information in a quechua rural area of Peru, while the country and the region experience decentralization processes for administrative power and education. The contradictions that separate the theory of a literacy program from its applications are due to the lack of information that does not allow an outlook of the local situation and its interconnections with the national, regional and world context. With the aim of reversing this kind of situation, a local self-managed literacy center network is suggested as an initiative that would allow the design and supply of a mechanism for information production, circulation and consumption. Reading and writing will therefore become integrated activities in the actors' daily lives through interactive social applications of these constantly developing skills.